Living within One’s Means and Meaningful Living

Tough economic times always call for tough financial choices.  We can no longer afford to have “both/and,” or “all of the above.”  It is now “either/or,” or “we just can’t afford it.”  What do we choose, what shall we give-up, or with what shall we do without?

“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”  Ever hear that before?  No doubt you’ve spoken that little proverbial quip yourself; perhaps you’ve said it to your children.  There is good reason for those little proverbial sayings that pop-up in our discourse from time to time.  They speak volumes of truth with so few words, an economy of language.  And, no doubt, the kids rolled their eyes when they heard it, and without skipping a beat, still pleaded: “I know, I know, but why can’t I have…?  Please!!!!!”

It’s been said that in every crisis there is an opportunity, the possibility of a new start, an “A Hah!” teachable moment, leading to development of body, person, and character, or renewed hope and inspiration.  What might be the opportunity that our present financial hardship might give to an American family?

Well, this economic downturn might just provide American families the opportunity to measure its worth above and beyond its material assets.  Yes of course a family needs the basics, a roof over one’s head, food on the table, clothing to cover the body—especially in the dead of winter.  But once a family affords what it needs, all else is fluff, extra; is it not?

That is to say that for many, our economic downturn has really ignited an emotional reaction to our loss of the fluff and not simply to a loss of basic necessities.  That is, many can still afford clothes but not the latest styles (second hand stores should be booming).  Many can afford food but can no longer eat out any time they please.  Many can afford a roof over their head but have lost the chance for their dream house that might have provided each family member with a room of her own along with private bath.  The loss of “fluff” may not be all that bad.

Perhaps the lesson for us Americans in the face of this nation’s financial tightening of the belt is to become less spoiled and to go back to the basic principles that made this nation economically strong and stable in the first place: that is, living with gratitude for the things we DO have and not living with regret for the things we have not, accepting hard work as the true means to earning money, buying only what one can afford and not beyond, saving money as earnestly as spending it, and doing work that adds real and substantial value not only to one’s personal family but to the community at large, and finally: managing one’s finances responsibly, conscientiously, and wisely.

Let me make an extreme statement: before our economic downturn, most debt was frivolous and unnecessary.  Yes!  For example, short of real emergency use, no family should necessarily have been in credit card debt.  A mortgage is understandable.  Even having a car payment makes sense to most families.  But many families are hurting financially now, simply because back then they had to have it and buy it now.  They could not, would not wait until they actually had the earned money in hand to pay for it with cash.  “We could not say ‘no,’ to this and that, and the other thing.  We wanted our cake and eat it too.  We used our credit card as if it were free money.”  Furthermore, businesses and corporations wanted it that way.  We have been a “consumer driven society.”  “Consumer driven” means: buy, purchase, and consume—and worry about how to pay for it later.

Instead of “consumer driven” how about becoming a “value driven” society, value as in quality of living by means of building substance to personal-being and interpersonal relationships, valuing and measuring people by their quality-living rather than by their material-assets.  For example, we can live off the land in such a way that we give back to the land as well, so that the land is not left devoid of life, stripped of regenerative energy and made incapacitated for reproductive ability.  In short, maybe this is a good time to re-think economics altogether and discover a new model for financial sustainability in the 21st century and beyond.